Parliament Question: Statistical reforms for data crediblity

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1120 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2026 STATISTICAL REFORMS FOR DATA CREDIBLITY

1120. SHRI S.R. SIVALINGAM:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to State:

(a) whether Government has taken cognizance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment placing India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics at a lower grade and the implications for credibility of official data;

(b) if so, the details of actions initiated by Government through base year revision of gross domestic product, Consumer Price Index updating, and industrial production reforms; and

(c) the timeline set by Government for completion of these statistical reforms and measures planned for alignment with international standards? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducts bilateral discussions with its member countries, usually every year, under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement. IMF introduced the Data Adequacy Assessment Framework (DAAF) as part of its Article IV consultation in 2024. The framework is meant to review the aspects related to coverage, granularity and frequency & timeliness in compilation of GDP. In both years of assessment i.e. 2024 & 2025, the IMF has placed GDP under ‘C’ due to outdated base year which is 2011-12. Ministry has decided to update the base year of GDP from 2011-12 to 2022-23 and to address the concern raised in IMF Article IV Report by incorporation of new data sources and methodological improvements.

(b): Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has decided a comprehensive exercise for revision of the base year of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Index of Industrial Production

(IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) to enhance their relevance, accuracy and international comparability. Base year revision of GDP, CPI & IIP is guided by respective Technical AdvisoryCommittees comprises of experts from Academia, Central and State Government, RBI etc. The revision work includes methodological improvement, incorporation of new data sources, weight updation etc.

(c): The timeline for release of new series of GDP, CPI and IIP are 27th February, 2026, 12th February, 2026 and May, 2026 respectively. Moreover, CPI and GDP follow to the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) of IMF which has four key aspects i.e. Coverage, Periodicity, Timeliness; Access by public; Integrity of the disseminated data and Quality of the disseminated data respectively.

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